I didn't see a thread for all of season one so I thought I'd start one.

I really like this show, watched the entire season in two days. It's well acted with lots of plot twists. Though the only factual part about it is Congress does meet in Washington DC. Beyond that it's just pure, delicious fiction.

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I enjoyed the series, which is high praise from me since I am not usually a fan of political drama.

The production values were great and I thought the pacing was perfect.

Slugline seems poised to totally screw Frank. Based on the ambition Zoe has shown I expected that she would have much more to gain by staying in Franks pocket than blowing the story wide open, but maybe I am underestimating the value to her career by bringing him down.

Personally I would much rather see frank come out on top with the job.

Personally I would much rather see frank come out on top with the job.

I felt the same, until he became a murderer. Playing politics ruthlessly is one thing, but I cannot root for him after he killed someone like that. I guess it was foreshadowed in the first episode, but the murder still took me by surprise since I did not think he would cross the line like that.

Slugline seems poised to totally screw Frank. Based on the ambition Zoe has shown I expected that she would have much more to gain by staying in Franks pocket than blowing the story wide open, but maybe I am underestimating the value to her career by bringing him down.

The only thing I can think of in RL is the Woodward/Bernstein thing and what that did for them... well Woodward anyways.

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I felt the same, until he became a murderer. Playing politics ruthlessly is one thing, but I cannot root for him after he killed someone like that. I guess it was foreshadowed in the first episode, but the murder still took me by surprise since I did not think he would cross the line like that.

I agree and that was a shocker. I'll be surprised if the police don't figure out he was murdered.... he was drunk and in the passenger seat. But maybe I'm wrong.

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I knew that was coming from the moment they pulled into the garage. I wish it hadn't though, I feel like it was over the line.

Yes, it seemed out of character to me. Frank seemed like a guy who would do almost any ruthless thing to accomplish his goals, but he would stop short of murder. If for no other reason than it is too dangerous to his plans and likely to get him caught. Also, Frank struck me as someone who is certainly capable of being ruthless, but also someone who is not needlessly cruel -- he only hurts bystanders when it is absolutely necessary to his plans. I think Frank could have tried something else short of murder to deal with the problem.

I have the feeling that the show producers thought the murder seemed out of character after the season was mostly complete, so they decided to put in that first scene in episode 1 to try to make it more plausible. But I think they needed to have the crazy slowly develop in Frank over several episodes in order to make it plausible, and they did not do that.

I felt the same, until he became a murderer. Playing politics ruthlessly is one thing, but I cannot root for him after he killed someone like that. I guess it was foreshadowed in the first episode, but the murder still took me by surprise since I did not think he would cross the line like that.

What did Frank accomplish with the murder that he wouldn't have gotten with Peter simply slinking away in disgrace? Was there some thought that Peter was going to spill the beans? It seemed reckless for a guy who is so cunning.

... so they decided to put in that first scene in episode 1 to try to make it more plausible. But I think they needed to have the crazy slowly develop in Frank over several episodes in order to make it plausible, and they did not do that.

What did Frank accomplish with the murder that he wouldn't have gotten with Peter simply slinking away in disgrace? Was there some thought that Peter was going to spill the beans? It seemed reckless for a guy who is so cunning.

Yes, the worry was that Russo was going to confess all, and thereby implicate Frank. But my feeling is, as long as Russo did not realize that Frank set him up to fail (and I think Russo was in the dark about that), then Frank could have "persuaded" (carrot and stick) Russo to keep Frank's involvement out of his confession.

Finally finished this last night. My question is was it a plan from the start or evolving along the way. For example when he lost the bill because his wife sabotaged him, was that an expected outcome. If so what would been the scenario if the bill passed.
Having the bill fail causes him to have a blowup with the wife where she leaves town and she seems to immediately return once Peter is found dead. This seems a little too convenient.

What do you guys think?

I can see how the ending provided a good scenario for both directions of cancelled and renewed.

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I think Frank planned -- when he first started helping Russo -- to eventually cause Russo to self-destruct so that Frank could persuade the VP to run for gov and then Frank would have a shot at VP.

I do not think Frank planned to kill Russo until just before he did it. Frank just planned to get him drunk, embarrassed, and then have Russo drop out of the race.

I do not think Frank planned to have the bill fail. But it was not a large part of his plan either way -- Frank could have continued with his plans even after it failed. The big unexpected development that Frank did not plan for was that Russo was going to confess to everything, thus implicating Frank.

The bad part of the last few episodes is that I think Frank could have "persuaded" Russo to keep quiet about Frank's involvement. The stick would be to reveal to Russo's girlfriend about all of his prostitutes. The carrot would be that Frank could promise Russo that he would instigate a new bill to get jobs for Russo's constituents. This seems like it would be likely to work on Russo, and Frank would know that. It was out of character for Frank to murder Russo.

He's seems a lot more tortured by what he and Frank are doing than Frank is. He worked to keep a poker face by Frank's "confession" about the murder but he was stunned. And I think he really cared about Rachel (not in an icky way) and I bet it tore him up to send her back down that road. (Or were they keeping her around specifically to have an avenue of destruction?)

Breaking the fourth wall was also done in the BBC version. I watched all 12 episodes this weekend. It was very well done.

One thing I liked better about the BBC version was the whole attitude of it was a little bit cheekier. It had a bit more charm. The character of Francis was just as conniving and heartless, but for some reason, seemed more likeable. The US version is much darker in tone.

If you're enjoying the US version, I would definitely recommend the BBC version. I don't think one spoils the other at all.

It was a little odd at first, but during the second episode I grew accustomed to it and really enjoyed it throughout the rest of the season.

It provided some really interesting moments and Spacey does it so well.

+1 my feelings exactly. I think its a great away for us to see what he is thinking without bubbles appearing over his head. There is so much mental strategy going on this show it really makes sense to give us a heads up.

The scene towards the end with the fake VP candidate was great how it went back and forth with who's on top so to speak.

__________________
I will never forget the face of my wife as I left to go the operating room to donate my kidney and give her back her life.

I think Frank planned -- when he first started helping Russo -- to eventually cause Russo to self-destruct so that Frank could persuade the VP to run for gov and then Frank would have a shot at VP.

I do not think Frank planned to kill Russo until just before he did it. Frank just planned to get him drunk, embarrassed, and then have Russo drop out of the race.

I do not think Frank planned to have the bill fail. But it was not a large part of his plan either way -- Frank could have continued with his plans even after it failed. The big unexpected development that Frank did not plan for was that Russo was going to confess to everything, thus implicating Frank.

The bad part of the last few episodes is that I think Frank could have "persuaded" Russo to keep quiet about Frank's involvement. The stick would be to reveal to Russo's girlfriend about all of his prostitutes. The carrot would be that Frank could promise Russo that he would instigate a new bill to get jobs for Russo's constituents. This seems like it would be likely to work on Russo, and Frank would know that. It was out of character for Frank to murder Russo.

He was backed into a corner. And the opportunity presented itself, so he took advantage of it. His goal after he got screwed out of the Secretary of State position was to be VP. And Russo was going to ruin that big time. If he wasn't backed into a corner I don't think he would have killed Russo, but at that point he really had not much of a choice. He was going to be screwed by Russo, and the golden opportunity showed up and he took it.